When you ask us to build you a website, we always prepare an initial costing for the project. The purpose of the initial costing is to give you an overview of the time it takes to complete each part of the project and it gives you an estimated costing for that work.
The whole project is divided in several stages and the estimated costing includes the following parts:
Requirements gathering
This is the first part of the project where we gather as much information about what you need your website to do. We then prepare a project plan which is used by our production team. Often we'll create a site map, which helps to identify all the different "areas" your website will need. The planning process helps to identify any customisations that might be required to create a website that will do exactly what you want.
See what your website could do
Visual design
Once we have a project plan, we then start designing the overall look of your new website. This will include creating custom graphics and creating page layouts that will ultimately become your new website. The design we create will consider any specific branding requirements you may have for your business. We'll present our ideas in an interactive presentation that will be a pictorial representation of the finished website.
Take a look at our recent projects
Theme development
This is the part of the project where we turn the website design into templates that will be integrated with the Content Management System (CMS). We'll create custom templates that can be used to create an unlimited number of pages in your website. Part of this process is creating templates for all devices, so your website pages will look great on desktop computers, tablets and smart phones.
Technical development
Your website will be built using an open source Content Management System (CMS). Think of it as the "brains" or technology that makes your website operate. Basically, it's the system that enables you to publish and manage your content. In this part of the project we'll integrate the custom theme with the CMS, so it can then be used to create an unlimited number of website pages. We also create custom modules that extend the functionality of the CMS, so your new website does all the things you need it to do.
Learn more about the CMS we use
Adding content
Once the Content Management System (CMS) is operational and the theme has been installed, your new website is ready to have content added. At this point, you can start using the website too! If you're migrating from an older website, we can usually help with transferring a large volume of pages from one system to another, which speeds up the process filling your new website with content.
If you need help with creating new content for your website, we can help with that too.
Search engine optimisation (SEO)
A vital part of any website project is making your content accessible to search engines (e.g. Google, Bing or Yahoo). Optimising your content ensures that search engines index your website and show your pages in search results for certain keywords. This part of the project is all about setting things up so people can find you online. Doing this part well will get you a whole heap of website traffic in the future.
Testing and deployment
The final part of your website project is getting it ready go live. This includes setting up the website on a hosting server and then testing everything to make sure it's fully operational before anyone sees it for the first time.
